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Maritime Commander Australia, Rear Admiral Davyd Thomas AM CSC RAN officially opened Exercise Kakadu in Darwin. Over 1700 Defence personnel from six nations are participating in the multi-national maritime Exercise Kakadu 7 held in northern Australia from 26 July until 12 August 2005. This is the seventh exercise in a series of multinational exercises and brings together defence personnel from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.

Visiting forces include Indonesian frigate KRI Fatahillah, Malaysian frigate KD Jebat, Papuan New Guinean patrol boats HMPNGS Tarangau and HMPNGS Dreger and the Singaporean corvettes RSS Valiant and RSS Valour, a Singapore Air Force F-50 and a Royal New Zealand Air Force P3K Orion maritime patrol aircraft. Observers from the navies of India, France, the Republic of Korea and Thailand will also visit during the exercise.

"Exercise Kakadu provides valuable training for the Australian Defence Force as we continue to further goodwill and mutual understanding with regional defence forces," Rear Admiral Thomas said. "These exercises are vital in ensuring we can effectively and efficiently work with other regional forces."